Global-minded RooLife boss says time is right to get the jump on new markets

After more than doubling FY22 sales revenue, Aussie-listed RLG is doubling-down on its unique business model and branching out across the globe, taking a fully-integrated digital marketing and customer acquisition expertise and driving client expansion into new and diversified markets.

So a business which triples and then doubles full year sales revenue probably shouldn’t need an introduction, but RooLife Group (ASX:RLG) and its share price have flown well under the radar for the strategic targets they’re consistently achieving.

FY22 cemented the company’s growing global reputation as an innovative, international leader in bringing companies face to face with the China opportunity.

Even so, when the consistent boom performer revealed it’d doubled its revenue on FY 2021, (which was already triple the previous year), while at the same time leveraging new technologies which slashed costs, the China-cautious investment market failed to respond – all the while, with other listed companies selling into the China market being reasonably supported.

But that’s the furthest thing from the mind of MD Bryan Carr – the man handpicked to work with China’s largest telco to build their first mobile (Beijing Olympics) app.

Carr told Stockhead this week (ahead of a looming step-change announcement) that the ultra-personalised, real-time and market specific e-Commerce specialist now has the identified product demand, product supply relationships and systems and technology to manage global distribution for its clients, including taking them into fast-growing neighbouring markets in Asia.

“In simplest terms we support and launch new brands from around the world – and a good focus for us is China – where, regardless of the day’s power politics – so much of the strongest global demand is being generated.”

“And there’s still a lot of the smartest companies that know, ultimately, they want to sell into China. We service that demand because the desire and interest to sell into China has not changed, the Chinese demand has only gotten firmer and scaling the high barriers to entry is what we do.

The jump on China

Certainly RLG is doing unique work. Securing in-country distribution rights for in demand global products and services which in turn must speak directly to the consumers’ needs.

For clients, RLG matches them with – for example – the right social media influencer on the right social media platform, speaking to the pinpoint perfect target market.

Carr’s team – in and off-country – provide the creativity, the tech, the media diversity, the standing audience, the brand position and the sales infrastructure for global companies to go sell at scale in China.

“The fact is, the government level perspective playing out in the papers is pretty much totally irrelevant to what China’s increasingly sophisticated middle class wants.

“The huge demand and appreciation for the west, for western goods, the fascination for western food, medicine and innovation, China is importing harder and faster because the Chinese consumer is just as hungrily seeking them.”

Now, expanding on its original remit of driving sales in Australia and China, RLG has secured an enviable stable of international clients from Australia & New Zealand, USA, Europe, United Kingdom and South America and is moving across Asia.

Image Supplied: RLG Audited revenue and Income FY19 – FY22.

With +118% in platform and product sales in FY22 to ~$13m from ~$6m the previous year, Carr says RLG significantly expanded its global business operations with customers and product sales from seven countries, with expanded reach driven by its proprietary tech platforms, one of the key boosters of its significant revenue growth.

“Certainly, we’re trialling and testing across a range of new markets as the demand continues to build.

“Platform product sales represented over 76% of our total revenue last year and we attribute a lot of that growth to our strong, continued investment in our proprietary technology and market development.”

The jump on access

RooLife Group leverages in-country talent and a proprietary hyper-personalisation and profiling Artificial Intelligence System, RLG provides personalised, real-time, targeted marketing which matches consumer demand with international brands and products.

The process is replicable at scale and that opportunity has driven much of our client base expansion.

“Accessing new markets continues as a focus, with only a few months back our appointment by Santander UK as the China entry provider for their clients affirmation, that our strategic plan is also in demand with others.

With Santander’s established global banking footprint and over 150 million customers, the Santander Navigator portal and technology is a pretty neat fit for RLG’s Marketplace platform.

“Again it’s designed to match consumer demand with suppliers globally and is an integral component of driving the next phase of our growth strategy.”

According to RLG, Santander UK’s first big event focussed on UK based health and wellbeing brands looking to launch their products in China, will kick off this month.

And after that, not only do the east Asian tigers like Singapore and Malaysia beckon, but China’s relative shelter from the global recessionary forces places it ideally to drive economic growth and investment opportunity into the long-term.

“China remains the standout opportunity for long-term growth. Think for a moment that it’s a country with about 160 cities of more than a million people. In the states there’s about 10 cities of similar size. Everyone is online. Everyone is living in a cashless economy… That is a lot of potential consumers.”

The jump on growth

And while the RLG share price remains at a curious disconnect to the firm’s successes, it is the consistency in accelerating revenue returns which Carr says is his focus, as the company positions itself to be cashflow self-sustaining.

However, Carr and his board are of the view that further, ambitious growth is achievable, with economies of scale beckoning from the existing cost base.

Against a deteriorating global economic backdrop and armed with a massive monetary war chest, China is about to grow again, just as other major markets brace for recession.

And with the world’s largest aspirational middle class and a post zero-COVID desire to consume, China is sitting pretty as other major markets brace for recession.

“As the world becomes increasingly connected, consumers are no longer constrained by geography as they seek out brands and products that represent a better quality of life.

“This trend, along with the impact of COVID, is why emerging New Markets represent enormous growth potential for RLG and our clients be it banking, education or health & wellbeing brands and products,” Carr says.

This article was developed in collaboration with Roolife Group, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.